By Erik Gudris | Tuesday, January 22, 2019
US Open champion Naomi Osaka cracked eight aces sweeping Elina Svitolina, 6-4, 6-1, to reach her first Australian Open semifinal.
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve
Naomi Osaka finds herself in another Grand Slam semifinal.
The reigning US Open champion posted a strong, 6-4, 6-1, win against Elina Svitolina in their Australian Open quarterfinal to reach the final four in Melbourne.
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Osaka is now on a 12-match winning streak at the majors as she aims to win the Australian Open for the first time.
Both players entered the match each with a chance to finish the event as the new World No. 1. Though the match was considered something of a toss up, Svitolina going in was trying to do some thing she had never done in actually reaching a major semifinal. She was 0-3 in major quarterfinals and 0-5 against top 10 opponents at a major as well.
Early on in the match, it looked like the sixth-seeded Svitolina might have an opportunity against the fourth-seeded Osaka. The players stayed on serve with each other early in the first set. But it was Osaka who earned the first service break of the match to go up 4-2.
That lead would prove tenuous for Osaka though as she and Svitolina started trading service breaks in the late stages of the set. Eventually, it was Osaka’s power that proved more decisive than Svitolina’s backcourt defense.
Osaka served for the set up 5-3, but too many errors off her racquet, handed Svitolina another break. But at 5-4, Osaka again used her power to take back control of the set. Osaka swinging away, especially on her backhand side, eventually closed out the set 6-4 on her fourth set point.
Statistics were again on Osaka’s side as she owned a 57 match win streak after taking the first set stretching all the way back to 2016. Osaka’s confidence only grew in the second set.
Osaka secured yet another service break for a 2-0 lead thanks to a lucky let cord winner. Despite that, Svitolina did not do anything to try and change the momentum of the match either with new tactics or strategy.
Trailing 0-3, Svitolina called for the trainer to deal with a neck and shoulder issue. After the match resumed, Osaka resumed her momentum by breaking again for 4-0. The only thing that troubled Osaka down the stretch was a pesky bee who follwed her to her chair after she held serve for 5-0.
Svitolina managed to win one more game but it wasn’t enough. Osaka soon aced her way to match point in the next game. With a resounding overhead smash, she closed out the convincing 6-4, 6-1 victory.
The match stats showed how dominant Osaka was throughout as she posted 31 winners to just 11 for Svitolina.
Osaka now awaits the winner of the second women’s quarterfinal between Serena Williams and Karolina Pliskova.